1951  – Sayer & Colley was founded by two British businessmen. The company specialises in trading engineering products, such as bearings and belts, and is later awarded the Caterpillar dealership for Sudan.

1966 – Ten years after Sudan’s independence, Caterpillar decides to transfer the dealership to a Sudanese company, the original British owners retained a minority share. The contract is awarded to Mr. Daoud Abdellatif and his newly created Sudanese tractors Company (SUTRAC).

1970 – 1971 SUTRAC and Sayer & Colley are both nationalized. Within a year, the companies have been denationalised with the government retaining a minority share (the British partners are bought out).

1975 Mr. Daoud Abdellatif’s eldest son, Mr. Osama Daoud Abdellatif, joins SUTRAC.

1978 – 1979 Mr. Osama Daoud Abdellatif becomes SUTRACs Sales Manager. The two companies are returned to full private ownership and the minority government share is bought out. Mr. Osama Daoud Abdellatif also changes the name of the company from Sayer & Colley to DAL Engineering (after the initials of his father).

1984 – DAL Agriculture, which provides agricultural contracting services, is established and built on SUTRAC’s ties with the agricultural sector. The majority of the work is in the fertile Al-Jezeera State (south of Khartoum) where DAL Agriculture in responsible for ploughing more than a million acres of farmland. The company also starts to buy land and grow sorghum.

1988 – As the group starts to grow, DAL Property Development is established to provide architectural design, construction and facilities maintenance services.

1994 DAL Motors is founded as a natural extension of the company’s engineering activities and is awarded the exclusive Mitsubishi dealership for Sudan.

1995 – 1996 During the early 1990’s, DAL Agriculture is often paid in whet rather than cash. Spotting an opportunity, the Daoud Abdellatif family starts to trade flour.

Sayga Flour Mills is established as Sudan’s first large scale, high quality flour mills, with flour sold to bakers across Sudan. Today Sayga is one of the largest milling operations in the region with a capacity for milling more than one million tonnes of grains per annum.

1997 – 1998 The dairy processing company, Blue Nile Dairy (today DAL Dairy) in launched, the venture starts out as a place for the family to relax after long days in the office. DAL Medical is established, with just one product to its name. Today the portfolio comprises hundreds of products from leading multinational pharmaceuticals brands. Sudanese Liquid Air (SLA) -the producer and distributor of medical and industrial gases- joins the group. The company was established in 1949 as a branch of the French company, Air Liquide, and was taken unto Sudanese ownership in 1964.